Brussels (Belgium), May 13, 2016 (SPS) - Human rights violations in Morocco and occupied Western Sahara remain frequent said Thursday, in Brussels (Belgium), human rights activists who deplored the persistence of arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment, torture and condemnation of activists, particularly Sahrawis, to lengthy sentences at the end of inequitable trials.
Speaking in a debate on “Human Rights Violations in Morocco: Moroccan viewpoint, Sahrawi viewpoint,” organized at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) on the occasion of the tribute week to Sahrawi political prisoners, the representative of Committee of families of Gdeim Izik’s prisoners, Ali Roubiou denounced the “cruel, inhuman, degrading treatments that violate the Sahrawi prisoners’ dignity,” particularly those of Gdeim Izik group.
On 8 November 2010, the Moroccan security forces dismantled the protestation camp established by Sahrawis a month before, in Gdeim Izik to claim the economic, social and political rights of Sahrawi populations, arresting hundreds of protestors.
Defying all the provisions of international standards relating to human rights, the Moroccan authorities referred 25 of them to a military court which sentenced them to lengthy sentences, going from 20 years in prison to life imprisonment.
Amongst them are Naama Asfari, Ahmed Sbai and Mohamed Tahlil, all members of Sahrawi human rights organizations that work for the organization of self-determination referendum in Western Sahara.
According to Ali Roubiou, Moroccan authorities did not present any witnesses or material proof supporting the charges (homicides for most) brought against the convicted persons. SPS
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